Earnings down 30.1 percent for Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands, the casino company that operates the Venetian and Palazzo on the Strip as well as resorts in Macau and elsewhere, reported its second-quarter earnings today.

Company: Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS)

Revenue: $2.65 billion, down 9.3 percent from the second quarter last year.

Earnings: $328 million, down 30.1 percent from the same time period one year ago.

Earnings per share: 41 cents, compared to 59 cents in the second quarter of 2015.

What it means: Sands’ resorts in Macau, which account for the bulk of the company’s revenue, again struggled compared to the same time last year. Total net revenue for the company’s China subsidiary dropped 16.4 percent from last year to $1.48 billion.

Macau’s monthly gaming revenue has declined for more than two years due to a government-led corruption crackdown that has hurt business from high rollers as well as broader struggles in the Chinese economy.

But Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson said on a conference call that he saw positive signs in Macau, pointing specifically to the mass market. Adelson said Sands’ Macau properties experienced gains in both mass market gambling volume and and revenue in June, which he characterized as indication that “stabilization appears to be here.”

Sands will boost its Chinese presence even more with the opening of its $2.7 billion Parisian resort on Macau’s Cotai Strip. Adelson said on the conference call today that the resort would open on Sept. 13 and he had “not a shadow of doubt” that it would replicate Sands’ Venetian in Macau as “another themed, iconic and must-see integrated resort destination for Macau’s visitors.”

In Las Vegas, Sands’ net revenue rose 3 percent to $356.5 million in the second quarter. Despite a 5.2 percent decline in casino revenue, the company’s rooms revenue increased 8.8 percent while its food and beverage revenue grew 5.8 percent. Convention, retail and other revenue also increased 1.7 percent.

Sands announced plans in May to build a new 17,500-seat live music venue behind its Venetian and Palazzo resorts on the Strip. The company is partnering with the Madison Square Garden Company on the project.

Rob Goldstein, Sands’ president and chief operating officer, said on the conference call today that the project would hopefully break ground in the first quarter next year and would take about 18 to 24 months to build. Goldstein said the venue would be “very impactful” to Sands’ part of the Strip.

“Our neighborhood gets much better with this arena,” Goldstein said.

Outside Las Vegas, revenue at the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore declined 0.4 percent to $710 million in the second quarter. Meanwhile, revenue at Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania rose 6.5 percent to $146.5 million.

Sands paid a recurring quarterly dividend of 72 cents per common share in the second quarter, which marks a 10.8 percent increase from the previous year. The company’s total outstanding debt at the end of the quarter was $10.27 billion.

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